Group mobilises 2,000 youths for voter education

A group, Grassroots Accountability Advocacy Foundation (GAAF), has mobilized over 2,000 youths for nation-wide voters education. The already trained youths who would begin the tour of local communities shall be taking citizens on the issue of violence-free elections against 2019.

Titled, Roadmap to Violence-free Election, the President and Founder of GAAF, Genevieve Anthony-Iroajanma, told The Guardian that the nationwide enlightennent campaign would begin in Imo State on November 22. She added that the initiative came with the increasing incidents of vote invalidations in the recently concluded elections in some states.

According to her, the opinion survey conducted in some states revealed gross ignorance of electoral process and lack of basic information of electoral procedures among rural dwellers and less educated Nigerians.“The results of GAAF’s most recent voters’ opinion survey carried out to ascertain the level of voters’ information and awareness among rural voters resident in Imo State revealed gross ignorance of the whole electoral process and lack of adequate information of electoral procedure among rural and less educated residents.”

The scheduled flag off of the programme in Imo will bring together representatives of security agencies, the anti-graft agencies, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Civil Society Groups, the academia, politicians and religious leaders, who would be speaking on the dangers of electoral violence.

According to Anthony-Iroajanma, cases of votes cancellations and attendant disagreements have posed a new challenge in the Nigerian electoral process, and this, she stated, required immediate attention.“We cannot therefore continue to stand by and watch as millions of uninformed, yet eligible voters are being alienated from the entire democratic process merely because of lack of knowledge of the voting and the whole electoral process.